mustache_maniacs_film_cofandomcom-20200214-history
A Very Patrick Christmas
A Very Patrick Christmas is an animated Christmas special made to commemorate Mustache Maniacs Film Co.'s fifth anniversary and to promote the then in-development Johnny Thunder and the Gift of the Nile. The film starts with a visit to a movie set, followed by a short film of Patrick visiting his parents for the holidays. Film Details * Release Date: December 9, 2009 (Original); November 30, 2018 (Re-Release) * Running Time: 9 min. * MPAA Rating: G * Director: Andrew Bermudez * Producer: Teresa Bermudez * Writer: Andrew Bermudez Plot Summary The film opens at the TBC news studio, where newscasters Rick and Bob introduce the special. They explain that coming in 2010 is the film Johnny Thunder and the Gift of the Nile, which is filming in Cairo, Egypt. To cover the filming, they hand the newscast over to Wendy Simmons, who is interviewing Johnny Thunder on the set. However, she only talks to him briefly, as director Steven Lawrence calls him over to film the movie's bus chase sequence. After filming a few takes, a PA calls everyone off-set for a union break. In the meantime, the bus chase sequence from the movie plays out as a pseudo-teaser. Back at the news studio, Rick and Bob mention that, after the cancellation of the comic Patrick's Adventures, which would later become Tales of the Adventurers, the fans wanted something with Patrick. Because of that, the studio will be airing a Christmas special centered around Patrick. (The re-release does not include this newscast and starts at this point instead). Inside the Winter Village house of Patrick's parents, Patricia, Patrick's mother, and Porkins, Patrick's father, get ready for their son to come home for the holidays. Just then, Patrick arrives, who is welcomed in. As he heads upstairs to wrap a gift, he mentions that a special guest is coming, which confuses his parents. After Patrick wraps his present, he puts it underneath the tree. Outside, the guest arrives at Patrick's house, only to recoil in horror at the excessive overuse of tacky decorations. Not amused, he heads to the front door. Answering the door, Patrick welcomes his guest - Lord Sam Sinister - into the house. After a brief introduction, dinner finishes cooking. They all sit down to eat, with Lord Sinister complimenting Patricia's cooking. He then digs into Patricia's signature Christmas Delights, but cracks a tooth on his first bite. After finding out that the Christmas Delights are actually made out of meta-musil wafers, Lord Sinister rushes to the bathroom. There, he decides he should make the most of the night. When he returns to the table, Patrick brings Lord Sinister his present. Ripping it open, Lord Sinister finds a picture of himself and Patrick in front of a Christmas Tree, a gift he detests. After some banter, Santa Claus comes down the chimney, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. Giving out gifts, Patricia gets more meta-musil wafers, Porkins gets a toy robot, and Patrick gets a jack-in-the-box. Lord Sinister, being a villain, doesn't get any good presents. However, since coal has become too expensive for Santa to invest in, he gives Lord Sinister a can of fruitcake instead. After Santa leaves, Patricia tries to cheer up Lord Sinister, which throws him into a fit of rage. Production History After The Adventures of Legoman was slammed critically, several films were cancelled, including Ghost Pictures and Alpha Team: The Movie. Around this time, several films to fill the time before the release of Johnny Thunder and the Gift of the Nile, like Black Friday, were conceived, but these too fell through. Eventually, the only films to stay in development were Johnny Thunder and the Gift of the Nile and Forest of Fear. However, what would eventually become A Very Patrick Christmas was announced on September 21, 2009, the same day that Patrick's Adventures was cancelled. As the second Johnny Thunder film was being made, pre-production started with writing a scene that would feature a set for the movie. Initially, the main part of the film, Patrick's visit to his parent's home, wasn't even part of the movie. In the original film, the whole special would be in the TBC news studio, with news reports coming in from around Legotown. Eventually, the entire film was re-written to focus on Johnny Thunder-related content. Even then, the once lengthy Johnny Thunder interview was cut down for time. With a little help from LEGO's then-new Winter Village line-up, the newscast became a Christmas special in its own right, as focus continued to shift away from the newsroom and towards the holiday short film. After massive tweaking, the film was finally ready to unveil on December 9, 2009. On September 12, 2017, it was announced that, as part of Digital Decade, this film is going to be re-edited and re-released with all-new voice acting, new music, new animation, and more. It was re-released on November 30, 2018. In a major upset to the film's original intent, the newscast (the sole reason that this film exists) was completely removed. Audience Reception Right from its release, audiences loved the film, giving it rave reviews. Movie critic Movieguider73 even gave the film a rare 5/5 star rating. Though the film it was promoting has long since been released, A Very Patrick Christmas has become a holiday tradition for many dedicated Mustache Maniacs Film Co. fans. Mistakes * Visual Error: During the interview with Johnny Thunder, the backdrop occasionally sways and the camera shifts at one point. Characters * Rick (Al Bermudez) * Bob (Jim Freeman) * Wendy Simmons (Teresa Bermudez) * Johnny Thunder (Daniel Bermudez) * Steven Lawrence (Daniel Bermudez) * Mark Mustache (Curt Freeman) * Toymaker (n/a) * Toymaker's Cat (Lawrence "Gato" Bermudez) * Patricia (Eunice Rudnick) * Porkins (Wes Rudnick) * Patrick (Garrett Schelske) * Lord Sam Sinister (Andrew Bermudez) * Santa Claus (Andrew Bermudez) Locations The following locations appear in A Very Patrick Christmas. * TBC News Studio * Cairo * Winter Village * Patrick's Parents' House Credits * Andrew Bermudez - Creator; Director; Animator; Writer; Concept Artist; Voice Actor; Editor * Teresa Bermudez - Assistant Writer; Assistant Director; Voice Actor * Daniel Bermudez - Voice Actor * Al Bermudez - Voice Actor * Curt Freeman - Voice Actor * Jim Freeman - Voice Actor * Lawrence "Gato" Bermudez - Voice Actor * Eunice Rudnick - Voice Actor * Wes Rudnick - Voice Actor * Garrett Schelske - Voice Actor Tropes A Very Patrick Christmas contains examples of the following tropes. * All There in the Manual: What is up with Lord Sinister's line about being dragged across the ocean? This line is actually a connection to the comic Journey to Siberia, which itself connects the events of Johnny Thunder and the Secret of Marco Polo to this film. That also explains the stinger; it's a clarification as to why the villains went back to Russia for Johnny Thunder and the Gift of the Nile. * Aluminum Christmas Trees: Near the end of the film, Santa gives Lord Sam Sinister canned fruitcake as a Christmas present for being naughty. Most people would think that this was part comical absurdity, part make-the-joke-that-replaces-the-Vienna-sausages-gag-work-with-the-visuals rewriting (which isn't wrong), but canned fruitcake actually exists. * Alphabet News Network: The news network that is hosting the special is TBC. Some older information says that these letters stood for "The Brick Channel," but this is not considered canon. * B-Roll: 'One is shown of some footage from the then-upcoming film ''Johnny Thunder and the Gift of the Nile. * '''Christmas Carolers: A pair of carolers appear in the Winter Village montage. * Christmas Songs: Two by Neil Diamond were played during the film. However, both received copyright strikes, so both were removed during the re-edit. Now, Kevin MacLeod's renditions of "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies" and "Jingle Bells" are featured. * Christmas Special: This is basically one to the Johnny Thunder Saga. * Cutaway Gag: When Patricia wonders aloud whatever happened to Patrick's previous employer, Nevada Smith, a cutaway reveals Nevada Smith's skeleton in the Indian jungle. * Dinner and a Show: Lord Sinister complains over Patricia's Christmas Delights once he eats one for dessert. * Dreaming of a White Christmas: The Winter Village is blanketed in snow. * Everyone Hates Fruit Cakes: As punishment for being an internationally-wanted art thief (Lord Sinister's canonical criminal classification), Santa gives Lord Sinister canned fruitcake. * Everyone is Christian at Christmas: All of the festivities and decorations in the film are derived from Christmas only. * George Lucas Altered Version: On November 30, 2018, this film was re-released with a plethora of changes made to update the film. The changes made to the film are: ** The Mustache Maniacs Film Co. logo (itself updated since the film's initial release) was moved to before the special itself instead of in front of the newscast. The Drawn to Life logo is also now featured. ** The entire newscast was removed from the film, as its intended purpose (promoting Johnny Thunder and the Gift of the Nile) had long passed. ** The opening and end credits were scrapped and remade. ** Neil Diamond's Christmas songs were both replaced by Christmas ballads by Kevin MacLeod. ** With the exception of one shot (it's the iconic toy shop lighting up), the entire winter village montage was re-shot with the help of the winter village LEGO sets that had been released since this film originally debuted. ** Patricia's and Prokins' first lines were re-recorded due to an audio error. Lord Sinister and Santa Claus also received new voice recordings. ** Since Lawrence "Gato" Bermudez had passed away in 2016, calm meow sound effects were used for the toymaker's cat instead. ** New sound effects to enrich the atmosphere were added throughout. ** Lord Sam Sinister now arrives at the village via train instead of bus, an idea for the original film that was never realized until now. As a nod to the original cut, Patrick now arrives at the village via bus. ** Some of Lord Sinister's dialogue was re-written to better connect the film to Journey to Siberia. ** A stinger was added after the end credits to tie the film into the events of Johnny Thunder and the Gift of the Nile. * Gift-Giving Gaffe: Patrick gives Lord Sinister a picture of the two standing in front of a Christmas Tree. * Gone Horribly Right: A woman is trying to decorate a Christmas Tree when she falls off her ladder. While she hits the ground with quite some force, her fall does allow her to finish decorating the tree. * News Broadcast: The original cut of this film starts with one. * Over-the-top Christmas Decorations: Patrick's Parents' House is decorated this way. Downplayed in the re-release. * Parental Obliviousness: Neither Patricia nor Porkins acknowledge the fact that their son's friend is an internationally-wanted criminal who spends his days stealing and hoarding priceless artifacts. Even when Santa calls Lord Sinister naughty, neither parent even questions what would have put Lord Sinister on Santa's naughty list. Somewhat justified in that the Hooligans family is a little...well, Patrick's character says everything. * Potty Emergency: Lord Sinister has one after eating the Metamucil Wafer-laced Christmas Delights. * Santa Claus: This character appears in the film near the end. * Self Promotion Disguised As News: For better or for worse, the premise of the film. * The Stinger: This film has one of Lord Sinister and Patrick trying to evade the police. Exhausted, Lord Sinister demands that they go back to Russia, kicking off the villains' involvement in Johnny Thunder and the Gift of the Nile. * Villain Protagonist: The film centers around both Patrick Hooligans and Lord Sam Sinister, both of which are antagonists from the Johnny Thunder Saga. Trivia * In a faux letter that complained about how commercialism had overtaken Mustache Maniacs Film Co., this film was mentioned as an example of that commercialism. The letter was later rebutted by Mustache Maniacs Film Co. fans. * The voice actors who play Patrick's parents, Eunice and Wes Rudnick, are in actuality the parents of Garrett Schelske, the voice actor who plays Patrick. * The deleted scene that features Johnny Thunder referring to the signs to the set as having names such as "Sphinx Boils" and "Scarab Plague" is a nod to an actual Hollywood tactic to ward off the press, where directional signs to movie sets are printed with unreadable code names. * Lawrence "Gato" Bermudez was cast as the Toymaker's Cat because director Andrew Bermudez felt that the cat meow sound effects on file sounded too mean. The re-released version uses new cat sound effects. Gallery Image48.jpg|The toymaker's cat Image70.jpg|Patrick holding Lord Sinister's present Image80.jpg|Lord Sinister eats a Christmas Delight Image472.jpg|Patricia Image47.jpg|Patricia making Christmas dinner Image83.jpg|Patricia sitting at the table Image207.jpg|Patrick and Patricia embrace External Links * Official Web Page * Film on YouTube * Deleted Animation on YouTube Category:Movies Category:Animation Category:Featured Article Category:2009